Mbappé Is Out. Italy Get France at San Siro With Top Spot Alive

Mbappé sat out training on Wednesday, and by the evening Zinedine Zidane had confirmed it: the France captain will not be risked at San Siro, a hamstring problem the coach called a bit of discomfort and nothing major, with Sunday against Turkey the target for his return. So Thursday's Nations League meeting of Italy and France loses its biggest name for the second time in six weeks — and it is still the game that decides Group A1. France lead on ten points. Italy are second on seven, Belgium third on six. A France win sends them into the March quarter-finals. An Italy win pulls Roberto Mancini's side level at the top with one round left, on a front where Italy stories live at the Serie A front.

Nobody was supposed to be writing that sentence in November. Mancini admitted as much at Coverciano on Wednesday: considering how things started, Italy being in this position is, in his words, a little unexpected. The start was a 2-0 home defeat to Belgium that had relegation into League B being discussed out loud. Two wins over Turkey and a draw in Paris later, Italy can qualify too, as he put it — and he wants the San Siro crowd given something to cheer about while they do it.

The belief comes from Paris. On October 2 at the Stade de France, Gianluigi Donnarumma made seven saves — a double stop from Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembélé just after half-time was the pick of them — and Italy still needed a defender to rescue the point. Michael Olise bent a free-kick in off the underside of the bar on 55 minutes, Cherki laying the ball off for him. Thirteen minutes later Alessandro Bastoni pressed Lucas Da Cunha after a loose Adrien Rabiot pass, took the ball off the Como midfielder and finished past Mike Maignan himself. Dayot Upamecano was sent off late, and France's perfect start under Zidane ended in his first home game. They remain the only points France have dropped in this group. Mbappé missed that night too, with a knee injury.

Mbappé is one name on a list of eleven. France are also without Marcus Thuram — the Inter striker has a hamstring injury of his own — Pierre Kalulu, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Manu Koné, William Saliba, Jules Koundé, Maxence Lacroix, Dembélé, Maghnes Akliouche and Esteban Lepaul. Zidane has pulled 20-year-old Paris Saint-Germain forward Senny Mayulu up from the Under-21 camp at Clairefontaine for a first senior call-up, and Bournemouth's Eli Junior Kroupi, also 20, is in for Thuram. The probable front three is Olise, Bradley Barcola and Doué. Serie A still runs through the side: Milan pair Maignan and Rabiot are expected to start, and Da Cunha — the Como midfielder Bastoni robbed for the equaliser in Paris — is expected to start in France's midfield. Mancini, asked about the absences, smiled: if Olise were to come down with a cold, he wouldn't mind. Mbappé, he added, has the Champions League coming up with Real Madrid, so it is best he rests.

Italy have their own holes, just fewer of them. Gianluca Mancini is injured, Nicolò Zaniolo left the camp over a personal matter, and Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Giacomo Raspadori and Moise Kean were already missing. Football Italia's probable side runs Donnarumma; Michael Kayode, Giorgio Scalvini, Bastoni, Riccardo Calafiori; Davide Frattesi, Sandro Tonali, Nicolò Barella; Sebastiano Esposito, Pio Esposito, Nicolò Cambiaghi. Pio Esposito, the Inter striker, leads the line — he scored in the 3-1 win over Turkey in October. Milan's Alphadjo Cisse, 20 years old with five league goals this season, could make his senior debut at his own home ground, and Como's Mattia Liberali is pushing on the right. Mancini knows the wingers are young and short on experience. These games, he said, are where they gain some.

The stadium is part of the test. Italy have lost their last three matches at San Siro, and UEFA's own records put the longer wait in plain terms: Italy have not beaten France at home since a 2-1 friendly win in May 1962 — two draws and four defeats in the meetings since. Mancini's counter was personal: he won his most recent game here, against England, and it was by no means easy either. Donnarumma carries his own history with the ground — he has never played at San Siro without being jeered since leaving Milan as a free agent, a reception Mancini said he does not deserve, even now the goalkeeper is at Manchester City.

Sunday settles whatever Thursday leaves open: Italy travel to Brussels to face Belgium, and France host Turkey in Bordeaux with Mbappé expected back. First comes a night that was not supposed to matter this much — top spot on the line, a 64-year home wait against this opponent, and a France squad missing eleven men. The stage Mbappé has vacated belongs, for one night, to Italy's kids.